This invention relates generally to token dispensing game apparatus and particularly to such apparatus designed to meet the specific needs of very young children.
The challenge of creating and producing games which are appropriate for play by young children such as young children between the ages of three and four years old represents a substantial endeavor. Games for such very young children must be easy to manipulate given the limited dexterity and manual control of such young children. Further, such games must be easy to understand and must develop play patters which can be readily comprehended by young children. Furthermore, games intended for very young children must, of necessity, be extremely to learn and simple in their game results. In addition to these requirements, such games must, of necessity be amusing and interesting to engage the interest of young children. Generally this requirement of interest and amusement is met by providing games which are highly centered on attention grabbing action features.
In addition, practitioner""s in the art are often endeavoring to provide games for young children which enhance skill development and learning. For the most part, such skill enhancement must be limited to relatively basic skills such as hand/eye coordination, color discrimination, shape and geometric relationships, numbers or quantities as well as the concept of sequence or sequential actions. It is well recognized among practitioner""s of the toy arts that a particular game or toy may succeed or fail based upon its attraction to the child user. However, commercial success often results from skill development qualities in a toy or game appreciated by the parents of such children.
Faced with such challenges and somewhat conflicting requirements and motivated by desires for producing successful games, practitioner""s in the toy and game art have provided a virtually endless variety of games directed toward very young children. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,150 issued to Weyand sets forth a SYSTEM FOR GENERATING RANDOM OUTCOMES USING DISC""S in which a plurality of discs bearing markings or other indicators differentiate them one from another are used to randomly select a number of possible outcomes. The discs may be used to introduce an element of chance in games. Each disc has two sides, one of which is marked with a number. The discs are grouped into sets and the number marked on each disc in a set is the same within the set but is different from all other discs. To use the discs to randomly select an outcome, a persons stacks all of the discs on top of one another and upsets the stack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,325 issued to Weyand sets forth a SYSTEM FOR GENERATING RANDOM OUTCOMES USING DISCS which is a continuation in part of U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,150 adding alternative numeric indicators to the discs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,639 issued to Tokito et al. sets forth a BALL GAME APPARATUS WITH A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT BALLS AND WINNING POCKET PORTIONS in which a game apparatus includes a spiral rail for automatically delivering balls together with a field portion on which the delivered balls are able to roll with a degree of freedom. Winning pocket portions and invalid pockets are formed in the field portion for receiving a plurality of balls therein. A CCD camera is provided for counting the number of balls received in the winning pocket portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,958 issued to Weinertsen sets forth a LETTERS AND NUMBERS GAME for teaching children basic letters and number concepts. A plurality of character discs having distinct characters, letters or numbers formed thereon cooperate with complementary characters or the like formed on character trays within the toy. In addition, a device is provided which includes a housing having disc storage and dispensing stations therein. A ramp at the storage station is provided for supporting a plurality of individual character discs in an aligned stack while a pusher is provided to urge the discs toward the dispensing station. A dispensing plate is mounted for reciprocal movement at the dispensing station for removing individual discs and discharging them from the toys housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 936,057 issued to Taylor; U.S. Pat. No. 1,655,296 issued to Tapio; U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,268 issued to Raizen; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,721,083 issued to Allain set forth examples of early token and ball type chance games.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,735 issued to Tranter Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,402 issued to Schaper; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,338 issued to Glass et al. set forth further early examples of random chance games using objects such as balls or tokens.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,114 issued to Tucci set forth a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A POKER TYPE GAME which includes a betting table, a random selection device for selecting the dealer""s spot or hand or playing cards. The betting table is arranged in a system facilitating the betting rules of a new game known as Action Poker which automatically permits a player to know their status from an odd or no-pay stand point after each card.
U.S. Pat. 2,792,227 issued to Auerbach; U.S. Pat. No. 2,003,979 issued to Skoric; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,705,900 set forth examples of early random selection apparatus of the type used in various games.
In a related art, U.S. Pat. No. 2,759,632 issued to Ussery et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,230 issued to Calverly set forth examples of tablet or pill dispensing apparatus.
While the foregoing prior art devices have to some extent improved the art and have in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved, interesting and amusing game apparatus for young children.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved game apparatus. It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved game apparatus which is particularly suited to the needs of very young children. It is a still more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved game apparatus suited to the needs of young children which aides such young children in the development of a number of basic skills such as hand/eye coordination, color discrimination, shape and geometric relationships, numeric quantities and sequence of activities.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a game apparatus comprising: a figure having a head defining a slot, a torso, a moveable arm and a torso support; a plurality of tokens received within the head through the slot; a rotatable plate within the head; gear drive means, coupled between the moveable arm and the rotating plate, for rotating the plate in response movement of the moveable arm; and a token gate supported within the figure operative in response to movement of the gear drive means to allow a token to move from the figure, the moveable arm being moved by a game player to rotate the rotating plate and agitating the plurality of tokens and the gear drive means and the token gate cooperating to dispense a token from the figure.